Skull base fracture is one of the most complex medical issues, especially in neurological emergencies and trauma services. Skull fractures occur commonly in patients who are in heavy accidents or severe trauma resulting in a critical health condition. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leakage is a problem that is frequently associated with base skull fractures. CSF leakage can occur anywhere along the craniospinal axis and the most common clinical manifestation of CSF leakage involves rhinorrhea and/or otorrhea.
Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leakage can also occur under non-traumatic conditions such as leaks caused directly or indirectly by tumors, hydrocephalus, osteomyelitic erosion and congenital abnormalities. Clinical manifestations of CSF leakage range from drainage of CSF that is easily recognized to slow, intermittent leakage that can be difficult to diagnose. Cerebrospinal fluid leakage may be traumatic, iatrogenic, or spontaneous in origin, and it affects a relatively large proportion of neurosurgical patients.
Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leakage is generally detected based on analysis of samples such as nasal discharge or secretions from ear or nose of a patient. The samples collected from patients will be sent from a sampling location to a laboratory for analysis, which is a time consuming process, for example, the analysis may take many hours or even a few days. The time delay may lead to further deterioration of patient's condition and prolongs the time required for making critical decisions. Further, the report of the analysis would require a medical technician to collect and process clinical samples and a qualified medical professional to interpret the results.
In traditional methods of CSF detection, sample fluids from the patient's nose or ear are collected inside a sample tube and sent to laboratories to accurately determine the quantities of analytes such as glucose, chloride and beta-2 transferrin. The above method consumes a considerable amount of time for transporting the sample to the laboratory and analyzing the sample at the laboratory. The above method also provides results in a format which can be clearly interpreted only by a qualified medical professional, which might further delay the time to take critical clinical decisions, such as opting for surgery. Due to the typically urgent nature of this medical problem, any delay in diagnosing CSF leakage can increase the risk of mortality.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a device and a method for rapid detection of cerebrospinal fluid leakage, thereby helping in making faster decisions regarding emergency medical treatments and reducing mortality rate among head trauma patients. In addition, there is a need in the art for a device that can easily handle and rapidly provide a readily discernible output of the analysis for determining CSF leakage.